Myself from a photograph taken one month prior to the war. The indistinct lines foreshadow the chaos to come.

Fleeing the Fire

Running from burning houses during a bombardment.

Stamps of Oppression

Nazi stamps on postcards written by my family during early stages of the war. The woman is my mother in the Lida ghetto.

Branded as a Jew

Jews were branded with yellow patches of the Star of David, so as to humiliate them. Aviva, from Czechoslovakia, was sent to Theresienstadt then to Auschwitz.

Fear

A woman running in fear in the Warsaw ghetto.

Seeking Shelter

Children hiding in the ghetto.

In Hiding

Children smuggled food and guns into the Warsaw ghetto.

Life in the Shadows

Most Jewish children who survived the Holocaust were hidden by Christians, an offense that was punishable by death.

Hiding in the Forest

Armed Jews could join the partisans in the forests. The unarmed were forced to live in scattered family camps, at the mercy of invaders. The trees symbolize the safety provided by trees.

Their Last Embrace

Children were often forcibly separated from their families. Shown is such a boy, still remembering his mother’s smile and their last embrace.

Life Unraveling

Children suffered the worst ravages of deprivation in the ghettos.

Kaddish in Warsaw

Saying Kaddish for the 7,000 Jews daily deported to Treblinka.

Patriarch

The elderly were unsuitable for slave labor and were among the first to be killed.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

My cousin Sara Rosenbojm smuggled arms into the ghetto and died fighting in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Her picture with the armband was taken in the ghetto.

Awaiting Her Turn

Nazi killing squads shot some 1.5 million Jews in the Soviet territories. Pictured is a mother comforting her child awaiting their turn to be shot in Lubny, Ukraine.

He Perished in Ponar

60,000 Jews from Vilna were shot into the pits in Ponar.; this man was among them. The background is of shattered Jewish tombstones.

In Memory

Remembering the Lithuanian Jews who were shot. The writing is the Kaddish – the Hebrew prayer recited for the dead.

Arrival in a Camp

After a harrowing train ride, the elderly were immediately sent to the gas chambers.

Eyes of Pain

Children were often sadistically killed. They were used for target practice, shot in front of their families, experimented on or burned alive. Shown are children in a camp with eyes there were once on smiling faces.

Panic

Jews in camp lived in constant fear for their lives. Every incident was thought to be the end.

Windows into Nightmares

A mother is plagued by the nightmare of the loss of her children.

Poland

After the war, Poland issued postage stamps to mark the destruction of city landmarks. I chose to replace the damaged statues with the lost Jews.

Liberation

Liberated Jews were often too sick and down-trodden to greet their liberators.

Vanished Culture

The Holocaust eradicated all that was Jewish. This work illustrates the substance of that loss: a people, a culture, a religion, and three languages they spoke (Yiddish, Ladino and Hebrew).

In the Memory of Stones

A memorial to the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.

The Stones Weep

In memory of all the mothers and children who perished. In the background are desecrated Jewish tombstones with their Hebrew letters.

The Kaddish Series 1

We remember the Jews who perished by reciting the Kaddish (Hebrew prayer for the dead). We do so as a community, for there was often no living family member left to recite this payer.

The Kaddish Series 2

I photographed the wall of portraits at the museum in Auschwitz-Birkenau, it displays pictures of Jews who died there. The statistic six million Jews is all the more poignant when one views their pictures individually.

The Kaddish Series 3

The man with spectacles is my cousin who was killed in Auschwitz. The faces in the background are of other Jews who died there.

Treblinka Memorial

The camp was destroyed by the Germans before the end of the war. A memorial was later established (of stones bearing the names of the birth countries, cities and town of the 900,000 people who died there).

Strolling Along the Wistula

My maternal grandparents from before the war. They were interned in the Warsaw ghetto on Pawia Street and deported to Treblinka

Papa

My father, Dr. Chaim Miasnik, a surgeon, saved countless lives during the war. A partisan in the forest, he established a hospital in the swamps and operated on the wounded. He was awarded the Order of Lenin for his efforts. The image of him on the right is from the Lida ghetto, that on the left was taken after the war.

Mama and I

From a picture taken after liberation. The inserts below show my prewar family in Warsaw. This work is included in a book of artworks by Holocaust survivors published by Yad Vashem.

Myself from a photograph taken one month prior to the war. The indistinct lines foreshadow the chaos to come.

Fleeing the Fire

Running from burning houses during a bombardment.

Stamps of Oppression

Nazi stamps on postcards written by my family during early stages of the war. The woman is my mother in the Lida ghetto.

Branded as a Jew

Jews were branded with yellow patches of the Star of David, so as to humiliate them. Aviva, from Czechoslovakia, was sent to Theresienstadt then to Auschwitz.

Fear

A woman running in fear in the Warsaw ghetto.

Seeking Shelter

Children hiding in the ghetto.

In Hiding

Children smuggled food and guns into the Warsaw ghetto.

Life in the Shadows

Most Jewish children who survived the Holocaust were hidden by Christians, an offense that was punishable by death.

Hiding in the Forest

Armed Jews could join the partisans in the forests. The unarmed were forced to live in scattered family camps, at the mercy of invaders. The trees symbolize the safety provided by trees.

Their Last Embrace

Children were often forcibly separated from their families. Shown is such a boy, still remembering his mother’s smile and their last embrace.

Life Unraveling

Children suffered the worst ravages of deprivation in the ghettos.

Kaddish in Warsaw

Saying Kaddish for the 7,000 Jews daily deported to Treblinka.

Patriarch

The elderly were unsuitable for slave labor and were among the first to be killed.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

My cousin Sara Rosenbojm smuggled arms into the ghetto and died fighting in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Her picture with the armband was taken in the ghetto.

Awaiting Her Turn

Nazi killing squads shot some 1.5 million Jews in the Soviet territories. Pictured is a mother comforting her child awaiting their turn to be shot in Lubny, Ukraine.

He Perished in Ponar

60,000 Jews from Vilna were shot into the pits in Ponar.; this man was among them. The background is of shattered Jewish tombstones.

In Memory

Remembering the Lithuanian Jews who were shot. The writing is the Kaddish – the Hebrew prayer recited for the dead.

Arrival in a Camp

After a harrowing train ride, the elderly were immediately sent to the gas chambers.

Eyes of Pain

Children were often sadistically killed. They were used for target practice, shot in front of their families, experimented on or burned alive. Shown are children in a camp with eyes there were once on smiling faces.

Panic

Jews in camp lived in constant fear for their lives. Every incident was thought to be the end.

Windows into Nightmares

A mother is plagued by the nightmare of the loss of her children.

Poland

After the war, Poland issued postage stamps to mark the destruction of city landmarks. I chose to replace the damaged statues with the lost Jews.

Liberation

Liberated Jews were often too sick and down-trodden to greet their liberators.

Vanished Culture

The Holocaust eradicated all that was Jewish. This work illustrates the substance of that loss: a people, a culture, a religion, and three languages they spoke (Yiddish, Ladino and Hebrew).

In the Memory of Stones

A memorial to the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.

The Stones Weep

In memory of all the mothers and children who perished. In the background are desecrated Jewish tombstones with their Hebrew letters.

The Kaddish Series 1

We remember the Jews who perished by reciting the Kaddish (Hebrew prayer for the dead). We do so as a community, for there was often no living family member left to recite this payer.

The Kaddish Series 2

I photographed the wall of portraits at the museum in Auschwitz-Birkenau, it displays pictures of Jews who died there. The statistic six million Jews is all the more poignant when one views their pictures individually.

The Kaddish Series 3

The man with spectacles is my cousin who was killed in Auschwitz. The faces in the background are of other Jews who died there.

Treblinka Memorial

The camp was destroyed by the Germans before the end of the war. A memorial was later established (of stones bearing the names of the birth countries, cities and town of the 900,000 people who died there).

Strolling Along the Wistula

My maternal grandparents from before the war. They were interned in the Warsaw ghetto on Pawia Street and deported to Treblinka

Papa

My father, Dr. Chaim Miasnik, a surgeon, saved countless lives during the war. A partisan in the forest, he established a hospital in the swamps and operated on the wounded. He was awarded the Order of Lenin for his efforts. The image of him on the right is from the Lida ghetto, that on the left was taken after the war.

Mama and I

From a picture taken after liberation. The inserts below show my prewar family in Warsaw. This work is included in a book of artworks by Holocaust survivors published by Yad Vashem.